Comments on: Save Money With an Evaporative Cooler

By: jfc

jfc — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 16:02:13 +0000

Hi Dennis,

It apparently has to be really dry outside for the evaporative coolers to be effective on a large scale. Even then, it can’t compete cooling wise with a central AC unit. But the cost savings can be substantial.

By: Dennis Anderton

Dennis Anderton — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 14:37:15 +0000

We tried one in the office in hopes of finding a better alternative to adding another air conditioning unit. It seems that it really is effective on personal uses only.

By: trade show booths

trade show booths — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:34:33 +0000

Hi Frank, good suggestion on the attic fan, and good analysis! My dad put in one of those a few years before he got the swamp cooler. From what he said, it was a bit of work to get it in, and it didn’t make a huge difference, but it helped. If one questions the amount of heat that builds up in an attic, one just needs to go up in the attic during a hot summer day. In my dad’s house I think you could have baked cookies up there. Taking that heat load off can only help. But as you point out, it helps, but doesn’t really solve the entire problem. You wrote a very good post here for anyone looking to cool off a house during the summer without spending an arm and a leg and contributing to global warming. ~ Steve (aka “the guy with the big trade show booths”)

By: jfc

jfc — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 05:34:41 +0000

Hi Lissie,

I did the shower with clothes on thing when I lived in Florida in a cheap apartment where the AC didn’t work well.

By: lissie

lissie — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 03:38:51 +0000

The original evaporative cooler was the wet tea towel in front of the fan: or for us when the 4WD’s air condiitoning gave up in 40C+ wet towel in a 1/2 open window: only problem: it doesn’t last long before it drys. If desparate take a shower with your clothes on and stand in front of a fan!

By: jfc

jfc — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:32:31 +0000

Hi Steve,

Here is Georgia we have the saying, “It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity” so evaporative coolers aren’t a useful option here, at least for room cooling. However, I may try out one of those mini desktop evaporative coolers just to see if it outperforms the desktop fan I use at the office. We have big windows with a southern exposure that makes things hot in here sometimes. Of course, the other end of the building is ice cold.

The other long term low cost method of house cooling that works well in the southern US is an attic fan. We had one of these in a house we were renting and it really saved money on the AC. Unfortunately, these aren’t cheap to install post construction and won’t work as well with some of the common architectural flourishes that you see in newer homes.

By: trade show booths

trade show booths — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:05:55 +0000

Hi Frank, My dad lives in Reno, Nevada and has a swamp cooler (evaporative cooler). He swears by it. The key as you point out is you must live in a climate with LOW HUMIDITY. If you qualify, it’s a great way to save a lot on electricity, and by doing such, be GREEN. Otherwise, you can move to coastal California, though lately we’ve been having a killer heat wave. Anyway, great article and well timed! ~ Steve, the guy with a lot of trade show booths, but no swamp coolers…